Rescuers search rubble where crane fell

P-I STAFF

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, November 16, 2006

Firefighters Friday finished searching the wreckage created in Bellevue where a 210-foot-tall construction crane fell downtown.

The crane toppled over Thursday night, killing a man as it crashed into condos at the Pinnacle Bell Centre.

The man, Matthew Ammon, was an intellectual property lawyer at Microsoft. He was apparently new to the area having moved to Bellevue several months ago.

Ammon was apparently the only serious victim of the accident.

Rescuers from at least five different agencies were using dogs and thermal imaging equipment to look for survivors in the wreckage. One area of the site that had yet to be searched was the Plaza 305 parking garage, which had been blocked by a gigantic pile of rubble.

On Friday morning, about 80 percent of the building was open for business, but 25 condos in the Pinnacle were condemned, said Bellevue Fire Chief Mario Trevino.

At least 30 residents are displaced and the Red Cross has been on scene to help.

Firefighters had also brought in two other cranes to remove debris. The tail-end of the crane, which hit the office building, was being removed shortly before noon.

The crane's arm, which hit the condos, was also removed. Parts of downtown Bellevue were blocked off for the cleanup. Crowds were gathered around to watch.

The accident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Thursday at 108th Avenue Northeast near Northeast Fourth and Second streets, a bit north of the Seastar Restaurant. The crane was blocking a major downtown intersection, and the damaged buildings included Plaza 305 and the Civica Office Commons.

The crane operator was shutting down for the night and was in his cage about 30 feet from the ground. The operator was lucky that the cage never hit the ground, said John Ecker, a regional safety official.

The crane had been working on Tower 333, a lot that has been a vacant hole for a few years, officials said.

In downtown Seattle, some people expressed dismay over the accident, but were philosophical about the chances of it happening again.

Mike Plympton and Marissa Baratian, teachers at the New Discover School, a preschool in the Cascade neighborhood, stood at Cascade Park watching kids run and jump on playground equipment. But both recalled past years of copious construction, mostly of market-rate and low-income housing, within a 360-degree radius of the playground.

"We used to take kids on walks to look at the cranes," Plympton said. "We didn't have to walk very far. There was a lot of construction. But we hadn't considered it dangerous."

When a condo building across the street was built, a large crane that would swing over the playground, Baratian said. "You'd have a moment of fear and concern, realizing they were carrying a huge load. You're hypervigilant when kids are involved. But rationally, you'd know the cranes are designed to carry those loads. I always assumed companies took lots of safety precautions, and nothing ever happened."

Mike Hetland, a crane bellman on the Group Health Project, located on a city block between Westlake and Terry avenues north at Harrison Street, helped hook steel cables attached to concrete column forms to the hook of a 200-foot high crane. As the forms were hoisted up and over the project, Hetland said that while he's well aware crane accidents can happen, they are rare occurrences.

"My dad was an ironworker on an office building project in San Francisco in 1988-89, and his good friend was one of five iron workers who died in a crane accident," Hetland said. In that accident, the crane collapsed, and those in the tower "rode it 22 stories" to their deaths, he said.

Still, Hetland said, the Bellevue crane crash "was flukey."

Hetland, who has worked in construction for 20 years, mostly specializing in crane work, added that crews are always vigilant in windy conditions.

"You have to be really careful," Hetland said. "Any gusts over 40 miles per hour, we're shut down."

Wind from the south was blowing from 10 to 15 mph Thursday in Bellevue, according to the National Weather Service. Gustier weather blew through the region earlier in the week.